Democrats are already jockeying for position nearly four years before the next presidential election, but a new report claims would-be Republican contenders are being frozen out to avoid undercutting President Donald Trump.
Prospective GOP candidates are giving the president plenty of space to operate and waiting to see what influence he would have on the 2028 contest, which he has suggested he would take part in despite constitutional term limits. Republican strategists don't expect that "wait-and-see approach to change anytime soon, reported CNN.
“The leadership vacuum [on the left] is going to draw people into the presidential race sooner," said GOP strategist Alex Conant, who worked on Marco Rubio's 2016 campaign. "There’s no leadership vacuum [among Republicans]. If anything, it’s a crowded room filled by one man.”
Trump floated two potential successors – Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Rubio – in a recent interview, but would-be candidates aren't paying visits to early primary states like Tim Walz, Pete Buttigieg and JB Pritzker have on the Democratic side.
“Everyone knows why you’re in Manchester, New Hampshire, or Ames, Iowa – you’re not fooling anybody,” said GOP strategist Bill Stepien, who managed Trump’s 2020 campaign. “The advice is to do the job you have and do it really, really well.”
The message has gotten out to hold off on 2028 moves, a source told CNN, revealing that New Hampshire Republican Party was in discussion late last year with two prospective GOP candidates about 2025 events, but those conversations abruptly ended when Trump was inaugurated.
“Since then, there’s been crickets,” that source said. “It’s almost as if the word has gotten out not to rain on Trump’s parade.”
The New Hampshire Republican Party did not respond to requests for comment, but the expectation is that campaign activity would remain limited at least through this year.
“No one is informally laying the groundwork, no one is organizing to a ‘Draft X Candidate’ committee,” said the source familiar with the New Hampshire GOP’s discussions. “I don’t see anything happening this year.”
Another GOP strategist told CNN that prospective candidates would have to take a different approach to building up their political brand to avoid directly challenging the president.
“You’re going to get yourself on Fox [News] as much as possible," that strategist said. "You’re going to try to do something high profile to support the president, but then you’re quietly thinking, ‘All right, what am I going to need? How can I raise a whole bunch of money?’ I wouldn’t be going to Iowa and New Hampshire yet.”
